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Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Buckwheat Butter Cookies

I went for a short
walk just when the snow started coming down this morning, all bundled up with a
raincoat over my jacket and mittens over my gloves. One careful step after another
to start and little heel-toe wiggles here and there to make sure that the sidewalk
is not slippery. It wasn’t yet, so I walked on and smiled as the soft
snowflakes fluttered about and tickled my face. For a brief moment, I was
reminded of the very first time I got to examine snowflakes. There I was, on a
sidewalk, staring at the snowflakes that stuck to my coat with intent and
admiring their intricate formations before they dissolved into thin air.
Snowflakes are quite mesmerizing… their presence is seemingly fleeting until
they decide to gang up on you and cover everything with layers of white. The
walk only lasted for a short while because my face was getting wet and the
sidewalk was starting to feel slick under my boots.

Now I’m safely back
in the house, dry and cozy, watching the snow fall relentlessly, while nibbling
on my third cookie and sipping lukewarm tea. I have also just decided that
snowflakes are one of the most beautiful things in nature. However, I don’t
like the inconvenience of mounting piles of snow and hate driving in snowy or
icy road conditions. It is super scary, especially if you drive a little car
with bad traction.

I must admit
though, that I love snow days. On such days, DFJ gets to work from home and I
can bug him anytime. Snow days also give us a good reason to slow down and take
it easy. There is nowhere to go and no one is expecting you. Being forced to
stay indoors is the perfect excuse to make a big pot of coffee or drink copious
amounts of tea, snuggle up in a blanket and read a book, muse about silly
things and then write about them, bake bread (which is currently not rising as
happily as I would want it to), or make some homemade chicken broth (which is
filling our house with a wonderful smell). You could also bake some cookies,
but if you already have some sitting around, then just make a hot
beverage of your choice to have it with.

So last Sunday, I
baked some buckwheat cookies because my favorite blogger, Molly Wizenberg,
convinced me to. In her 92nd Spilled Milk podcast, she talked about these
amazing buckwheat cookies that have successfully piqued my interest… enough to
make me invest a few dollars on buckwheat flour and cocoa nibs (I gave my stash
away before our big move last July) just for this recipe. After creaming the
butter and sugar, I realized that the cocoa nibs were nowhere to be found. A
freak-out moment ensued and needless to say, it wasn’t pretty. Apparently, we
accidentally left the cocoa nibs at the store, along with two truffles. Boo! I
am down to my last bar of good, dark chocolate and didn’t want to cut it in
small shards for the cookie batter. So I decided to grind up some fresh coffee
beans, espresso style, and add it into the batter along with some mini morsels
of semi-sweet chocolate. The original recipe does not aim for sweetness but a
contrast of the bitter cocoa nibs in the sweet cookie dough. However, my
improvised version with coffee grounds works just fine too. I still intend to
make these cookies with cocoa nibs as soon as I get my hands on them and as
soon as this big pile of cookies we have will disappear.

Having never baked
with buckwheat flour before, I honestly did not know what to expect. I tried a
few cookies fresh from the oven and tasted the buckwheat. It definitely has
its own distinct flavor that almost puts it in the category of slightly
unpleasant. DO NOT let this turn you off. Please no! Instead, be patient and
wait… because half a day later, only a faint trace of the “buckwheatish” taste
is left. And if you wait for an entire day, it completely disappears. What
remains is a crispy, melt-in-your mouth buttery cookie that is unlike any
regular butter cookie. The buckwheat in the dough has some delightful
complexity to it that an unsuspecting friend would never be able to identify
what it is that makes it extra special. This cookie has an irresistible charm
that will make you keep coming back for more. The touch of espresso grounds is
a good contrast to the sweet dough and a few chocolate chips never hurt.

Since I did not
plan on writing a post about this recipe, I did not record the process of
making these cookies. I urge you to visit Molly’s page for the recipe. In lieu
of cocoa nibs, I used 1/3 cup of mini semi-sweet chocolate cookies and 1 and ½
teaspoons of fresh, espresso ground, coffee beans.

Yesterday, I ate
about eight cookies before our hike at the state park nearby, plus two more
after dinner. It fueled me for a solid two and a half hours of trudging through mud in the beautiful, naked woods.

Today, I just inhaled the crumbs of my fifth cookie. I’m telling you, these are highly addicting!Stay warm my
friends! And to everyone out there who has to work during snow days, please be
safe, there's already four inches to contend with and more coming. To the mailman who just delivered a Christmas present for me from my
brother-in-law (The Zuni Café Cookbook), thank you. I wish I knew you were
coming today because I would have been so happy to share some of these
delicious cookies with you.

3 comments:

Oh wow. It has been like spring in Vancouver, I forget what snow looks like! People here are in short skirts and light sweaters! Hope you stay warm though!These cookies are calling my name! I have never cooked with buckwheat flour either, but I will heed your advice and wait a day before eating my baked goods. Which, I can tell, will be hard for me.

I'm okay with snow so long as I don't have to leave my apartment while it's going on lol! I am definitely intrigued by the sound of these cookies! I have buckwheat flour around always but rarely use it. Time to break it out!

About Me

Hello, my name is Margarita. I try to live a healthy lifestyle by eating well and working out. I am a cooking enthusiast and I like sharing my love for good food. Most of my recipes contain lots of vegetables and perhaps a bit of meat here and there. Staying active is one of the things that keep me sane. I love doing yoga, walking, hiking, biking, lifting weights, and occasional running. Join me in my food, travel, and life adventures and together let's eat well, cook right, live strong, and be healthy!